9/1/18 Javalina Volunteered To Be The Tip Of The Spear?

    I love the fight in Javalina.  Last year, he was playing tackle which is either lineman on the end, not including the tight-ends, but a few guys have left, so he volunteered to be center, which is the guy in the middle that starts each play by handing the ball to the quarterback.  I fear the center position, there is no upside and the only thing you can do is either play it perfectly or screw up.  Playing it perfectly means you can get the ball to the quarterback in every down either from "under center" where the Quarterback is directly behind the center and for lack of better language, has his hands right up in the center's ass.  The shotgun position, which is played 5-7 yards behind the line of scrimmage was originally used for quarterbacks who had lost a step and needed a little more spacing to be effective.  This formation has actually become more normal and now it is used a lot in college and is favored by quarterbacks who are very fast to see the field and decide whether to keep it or hand it off to a running back.
    But back to Javalina, he must become adept at both styles, since they are generally used interchangeably throughout a game.  If he does well, it will just be "well, that is what a center is supposed to do."  But if he screws up multiple times, there is no one else to blame, maybe the quarterback for having butter fingers.  We will work on it at home a bit, at least it'll be something we can do together for awhile.  He brought a football home, so we will be practicing on it sometime this weekend.  The only thing of course, I just talked to him, is that he has a bruised shoulder and I'm thinking it might be a good idea to let the shoulder rest a few days.  He showed me the hiking procedure and stupidly hiked the ball, just letting it bounce off the walls in the next room, luckily he didn't break anything.  I go "hey, don't actually release the ball, Fool of a Took."  He said "I didn't know I was."  I chuckled as I can tell the boy is drained, they are practicing five days a week, and even today, being Friday, they were out there until 5:30pm.
    I guess if this goes well, it would be a good skill to be good at.  It seems that at the higher levels, the linemen are always getting shifted around from position to position when someone gets hurt.  I just read that because the center "has an ideal view of the defense, he typically makes the first line call."  Because the center must know so much, they are typically the most intelligent of the offensive linemen.  Knowing this, I kind of think maybe Javalina should be the center.  This boy though, like he doesn't have a big ego already.  He likes to say he is the strongest player on the field against his teammates, now if he starts thinking he is the smartest, his helmet may not fit him by the end of the season.  Rumor is that games start not this week, but next, week, Sept 12-13.